Open letter from Time Warner to Eric - I told you so.

You may remember that I switched from Time Warner Cable to Dish Network a whild back to get the Big Ten Network. The OSU vs. Wisconsin game was going to be on the Big Ten Network and I wasn't going to miss it (Time Warner doesn't carry the network). I was pretty happy with Dish Network. More channels, more HD channels, more DVR space, Sirius radio, and The Big Ten Network. All for, basically, the same price as cable. HOWEVER, things have since changed. If you don't know, when you use satellite TV, you pick up different channels from different signals from different satellites. I have counted three satellite signals that we recieve. Two work, one does not. Satellite 129 is seriously making me consider cancelling our satellite service. It is pretty hit and miss as to whether or not satellite 129 will work or not. Rain ir shine, it doesn't matter. You may think that this is not a huge deal, but satellite 129 carries all of the HD channels and our local networks. So, we can't watch the local news or local channel programming without some SERIOUS signal breaks or no signal at all. We have called, they have sent techs, four times. Each time, they fiddle with the dish, it gets better for a day or so, and then it goes back to crap. We are supposed to get someone else out here to fix the dish AGAIN this Thursday. If they can't get it righ this time, I am going to ask what we need to do to get rid of the service. I think Insight Cable carries the Big Ten Network. Unfortunately, they will probably try to hit us with an early contract agreement charge. I think it is $200. AAARRGGHHH!

New Music

I got a few new albums in the last few weeks. I haven't have too much time to listen to them though:

- Disturbed - Indestructable - I like heavy rock music. Not ear bleeding gives you a headache speed metal, but some good hard rock. That's Disturbed in a nutshell. I have always been a fan. So far so good. Another solid album.

- Seether - Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces - I haven't listened to this one too much yet. I usually listen to music in the car. I need to listen to my IPod more when I play Xbox rather that my Sirius radio. Again, I like all of Seether's old music, so I am hoping that this new album is just as good.

- Fair to Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True - Nice, long album name, eh? This is a different kind of album for me. As mentioned, I listen to Sirius radio when I play Xbox. Well, they play two songs on this album that I really like. All in all, I really like the whole album. The singer's voice is kind of schrill at times, king of like a young Geddy Lee from Rush. Maybe that's why I like them. They have a Irish feel about their music. It is different and I like it.

- Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Maddness - Another mouthful of an album name. I just got this yesterday, so I haven't listened to it much. Again, I heard a song I really liked on Sirius called Welcome Home. It is very good. The rest of the album has a The Mars Volta feel. I don't know how much I'll like it. I need to give it a few listens.

I bought the first two albums at Best Buy, so I have the CDs. The other two I bought on ITunes, so they are only on my computer and IPod. I can back them up on a CD, but probably won't. It seems a little weird though, buying music that is not on a CD.

The Happening

I mentioned yesterday that Jessica and I were going to see M. Knight Shyamalan's lastest film, The Happening. As mentioned, I have really enjoyed all of M's previous movies. They are all original ideas and usually have a big shocker at end. Bruce Willis is already dead, Samuel L Jackson is the main villian, etc. Some of the films are a bit 'out there' but if you can appreciate a good story, M knight tells some of the best. Anyway, The Happening probably won't go down as the greatest film ever, but I liked it. I can understand how some people may not like it because it requires some suspension of disbelief. It's a pretty intense film though. Some gore, some funniness, some action. I don't really want to go into what all happens, because Betsy wanted to see it, but it kind of makes you think about where our world is heading. The ending is a little anti-climactic, but all in all the movie was pretty intense. I also saw an X-Files movie trailer. I'm not sure how I feel about this after the X-Files have been on the shelf for so long. I'm sure I will see it, but will probably wait for NetFlix to send it to me. Oh and Zooey Deschanel has the most beautiful blue eyes. I give The Happening a B, but can see how others might not like it.

I guess I can go into the story a little. I had already figured out most of what was going to happen from the previews. Stop reading if you don't want to know.

OK. Basically, people living on the east coast start killing themselves due to a toxin in the air. If you've seen the previews, you see people jumping off roofs, stabbing themselves, jumping into lion's cages, etc. A lot of the deaths are pretty graphic and gross. The toxin first starts in large populace areas, so everyone starts leaving the cities and towns, but then it starts spreading. You follow Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel as they try to survive. They basically find evidence of the toxin wherever they try to go (seeing dead people), so they keep trying to evade it. It's a good thing that this movie was kind of short or else I would have gotten tired of seeing Mark and Zooey running all over the place seeing dead people. All in all The Happening is M Knight's 'save the planet' message. The toxin is occuring naturally from plants where people are, like Mother Nature warning us they she can kill us if we don't stop our distructive ways. Also, it shows how people are really kind of crappy to each other as everyone adopts a "save yourself" kind of attitude. The acting wasn't great, the ending was ho-hum, but the story and suspense made this movie worth the watch for me. No big shocker though, like in some of M's other films. You basically figure out where the toxin is coming from about half way through the movie.

Just what I ordered

Some fun things planned now. I'm not exactly going to be a social butterfly, but at least I have some things to look forward to.

- Tonight Jessica and I are going out for dinner and a movie. We LOVE the Movie Tavern. We actually went there a few weeks ago to see Kung Fu Panda, which was pretty good. Well, tonight we are going to see The Happening. I have heard mixed reviews, be we really like all of M Knight Shymalan's other movies. Hopfully the bad reviews are just from low brow people that don't get M Knight's films or they were expecting something different. I am going to keep an open mind.

- I got good news in regards to my Ohio State footbal tickets this year. Instead of getting a crappy 'pre-season' game like Younsgtown State, I am getting tickets for a Big Ten game. October 11th I get to go see the Buckeyes stomp all over Perdue. I think the Perdue Boilermakers are on a team low lately, but it's still a Big Ten game. It is a different feeling in the Shoe when it is a Big Ten game.

- I have decided to get some Indians tickets for a game in September. My dad is a fan, and I am trying to be one too. At least a better fan. I thought that it would be fun to take the boys and dad to see an Indians game. I think I am going for the September 21st game against the Detroit Tigers. Hopfully, it will be a game with some play-off implications. Of course, the way they have been playing lately, the Indians might be watching the play-offs from their couches in their living rooms. Still, it should be a fun time.

- My mom wants to take us (my family) to a resort in Upper Sandusky for a couple days. She is thinking either Cedar Point or one of those water parks up there. I am a little on the fence about this one. We will go, of course, but it may be frustrating chasing the kids all over the place. I know, I am a stick in the mud. I just need to learn how to go with the flow and enjoy myself.

I need to get out more

I have been kind of bored with life lately. I think that my problem is lack of motivation and interests. Plus, it is hard to do stuff when you are either working or home with the kids while your wife is working. I know I could do things with the kids, but adult interests and kid interests aren't quite the same. Plus, most fun things cost money, which I have none. Given the chance, I'm not too sure what I would do with myself. Probably try to join a soccer team or something. I am pretty out of shape though, so that might be a bit too much. I should get out more to excercise, but I hate excercising in front of people. Maybe I am just making excuses for myself to be lazy. Probably. I just wish that there was something out that that I would enjoy and could take my kids. That is harder than it sounds when dealing with a 14, 6, and 3 year old. Do something the little kids like and the big kid gets bored. Do something for the big kid and the little kids get excluded. Maybe I just need to get out of the house. It's been two weeks since I've had a 'break' from being at home. I have gone to the store, sure (with all the kids in tow), but that is far from recreation. I think I am going to go play poker tonight. I should have joined a summer bowling league. That one night a week out keeps me sane during the fall and winter. Boy, I sound like a whiney bitch and a bad parent, don't I? I think I have just been cooped up too long. A night out will do me some good.

In the week of Eric

A few things going on this week:

1. We are painting the basement. I don't mind painting, but the basement has a bunch of weird corners and angles. We are going with a light green. I was hoping that one gallon and one coat would do, but it looks like I am going to need to get a second gallon. The hardest part was moving all of the stuff away from the walls. Also, manuvering around the kids' toys. Oh yeah, since I have maniac children, there were a few holes and dents in the wall. Really, those are the main reason for the painting. four real holes and about fifteen or twenty dents. Fun stuff.

2. In the Best Buy add, I saw a new Quake game for the Xbox that was being sold with a free copy of Call of Duty 3. I bought COD 4 a while ago and went through it pretty quickly. I want to get into the multi player part of the game. I play Halo 3 multi player ALOT, but wanted to try something new. Anyway, a free game is enough for me to buy another game. Fun stuff. Especially if the free game is something I am interested in. I love first person shooters.

3. As mentioned above, I have been playing COD 4. The game itself is WAY fun. You vs. terrorists. It was too short for my taste (I was done in about a week) but I am really trying to get into the multi player mode. It's quite a change from Halo 3. Instead of charging in, guns blazing, you need to be careful and sneaky. It is realistic in that, if you get shot, you get killed. Halo 3 allows for you to take some damage and still keep going. I have my work cut out for myself if I am to get good at this COD game. One negative is that, even if you are a newbie, you get tossed in with experienced players. I am level 1 playing against level 34 players. H3 was better in that level 1 players get matched up with level 1 players.

4. There are new pictures on my Flickr page. See the link to the right.

drawing a blank lately

Not many posts of late.....sorry about that. I guess I have been drawing a blank when it comes to what to write. I guess I can give you a general update:

- We took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. It was really good. Some of it was silly Jack Black comedy that could have been left out, but the animation was great, the story was good, and the kids really liked it. I did too.

- BSG finally seems to be taking off this season. It had better. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. The last Cylon, Earth, Starbuck, why did they turn Apollo into a whiney bitch, etc. Last episode was really good.

- Noah met his bio-dad this weekend. they had been chatting on the phone and via internet for some time now, but they had never met face to face. Mostly because the guy is a bit of an asshole. I won't get into it too much, but Noah said he had a good time visiting with his 'other family'. I am hoping that it makes Noah appreciate what he has here. I would like to think that a weekend in a trailer park would make him see just how hard Jessica and I work for him and the other kids. Not that there is anything wrong with trailer parks, but I think Noah was happy to be back in his own room. With three other kids, I have no idea where they would all have slept. We (Jessica and I) are never going to have a relationship with these people (I think that someone who is behind on child support and has never sent his child a birthday card or Christmas present is a scum bag) but if Noah wants to, there is really nothing we can do about it. I just don't understand why he would want to see them. Personally, I would be pissed at someone that has never really made any effort to be in my life. I just hope that these people don't expect invitations to summer cookouts and family gatherings.

Going to try Poker again

I am hosting another card game tonight. I've been on a run of horrible luck lately. I took a few weeks off to try to get my head straight. I was starting to sit at the table expecting to lose. That usually means that I am going to lose. The lasst few times I've played haven't been too bad. I've played well and only lost due to bad luck. Plus, I usually play to have fun more than to win. That means I am a little more wreckless. I am going to try to keep my head tonight and play smart. I need to start recouping some of my losses over the last few months.

Will they be Worth the Dough?

There are alot of movies Jessica and I want to see this summer. I love movies. I mostly buy DVDs, but a 42 inch TV just isn't as good as going to the big screen for the full theatrical experience. DVDs are a hel of a lot cheaper though. $15-$20 for a DVD makes more sense than $20 for the tickets, $10-$20 for drinks and snacks, and $30-$40 for a sitter. Plus, you can watch a DVD over and over, plus you can pause it to go pee. Anyway, here are the films we want to see, in no particular order:

Get Smart - Could this have been cast any better? I watched Get Smart re-runs as a kid, so this should be a cool blast from the past.

The Hulk - Jessica has a thing for Edward Norton. This will probably be delegated to a DVD watching.

The Happening - We love M Knight Shyamalan movies. They are always off the beaten path and pretty original. Some are scary, all are good.

Indiana Jones - This will be the first Indy film we have the chance to see in a theater. If Harrison Ford keeps this up, he may break a hip.

The Dark Knight - I hope this is at good as the last Batman flick. It looks like it is going to be great.

Hancock (maybe, probably a DVD pick) - Will Smith as a grumpy, moody superhero. It looks interesting. We'll see.

Of course, there is the new Harry Potter movie in November and Star Trek in December, but I am talking summer movies here. Did I miss any?

Busy Weekend

Saturday - Alydia's party was fun. She got several nice presents from family and friends. Her favorite seems to be clothes. She is SUCH a girl. Oh, and she got some little kid make up. Nothing whorey, just stuff like lip gloss and nail polish. I think Jessica likes playing dress up as much as Ally does. The food was good, the drink was good, everything was good.

Sunday - Since it was so nice out and I had my parents around to help out with everything, I was able to get a lot of yard work done. I started the day by putting in the veggie garden. YIPPIE!! So far, I have tomatoes, peppers, and cucumers going. I still have room for green beans and squash. I just LOVE summer time fresh veggies. Especially the tomatoes. they are SO much better than the store bought ones. I also cleaned out my garage. It ws getting pretty bad. Now that I have a shed and all of the gardening stuff is in it, I have alot more room in the garage. Plenty of room to park in there again. I think I am going to let Jessica park in there from now on so that, when it is snowing, she will be able to go to work without needing to scrape her car off first. Plus, her car is in better shape than mine now. I have scratched and dings all over my car.

I will try to put pictures from the party up n my Flickr page soon.

Almost Party Time

It's hard to believe that, in two days, my little Ally is going to be turning three. It's true when they say that kids grow up too fast. Sure, it will be nice when she is five and gets to go to school, but for now I am more than happy to have her be a little gorl for as long as possible. She is so sweet (most of the time). Tomorrow, we are having a little party. Friends are welcome to pop over. Unfortunately, most of my readers live hours away from me. Still, if anyone feels like popping in, we are kicking things off tomorrow at 4:00 (Saturday). We will have:

Tony Paco's hot dogs
Burgers
Chips
German Potatoe salad
fruit salad
veggie salad
sourkraut balls
dips
cake
drinks (of course)

I am guessing that there will be too much food, since that is how we Rhodes folk roll. YUMMY!!

Busy Day

Yesterday, Jessica took the day off so that we could do things to get ready for Alydia's party this Saturday. I was a busy fella. We went shopping in the morning and then I went to work on projects around the house. I mowed the grass, sprayed the grass with some weed killer, dug up the garden, and completed a border around the flower bed in the back yard. It took me a while and was bery tiring. Still, I always feel good when I get a lot of work done. You would think that I would try to get more things done, but it doesn't happen. We still need to clean the house and get the food ready, but mostly we should be ready to go for Saturday.

If anyone wants to come to the party Saturday, feel free. We are kicking off at 4:00.

Gas sucks

I went to get some gas Friday before having, yet another, bad week at playing cards. I have stopped filling my tank all the way. I drive a minivan, which isn't as bad as you think (I have a comfortable seat and plenty of hauling room in the back), but I have a 20 gallon tank. When gas prices are almost $4 per gallon, you can do the math. Since I don't do most of the driving anymore, I only put in about a half tank every time I fill up. Sure, I could get a full tank and go to the gas station less often, but I just have a problem with paying $80 for a tank of gas. In the meantime, gas and oil companies are still posting record earnings. Anyone else think that they are gauging the American people? If gas prices are really as high as we need to pay, and people are buying less gas because of the costs, how are these black souled companies still posting record gains? I'm just glad Jessica has a car that gets good mileage. Hopefully Bryan and Gretchen don't go broke paying for gas on their country wide trip.

Wii Fun

I have been playing Super Mario Galaxy lately. It is a load of fun. It is like the classic Super Mario games in that you have to save the Princess from Bowser by going through different levels and defeating different 'bosses' at the end. Actually, sometimes you need to complete difficult tasks. The setting is different though, in that you need to go through galaxies instead of the traditional levels. Each level is a different planet in the galaxy or the galaxy itself. Jessica is playing it too. She is irritated that I am further along in the game than she is. She is stuch on a level that you have to cross floors that move and have holes in it. The floor moves away from your goal, so you need to move fast to jump all the holes (different shaped holes). It is pretty rough.

I am also pretty good and Mario Carts Wii. I think I mentioned it before. I now have almost all of the races completed and have a gold cup on all but two levels. The hardest race for me to beat was the Rainbow Road. I kept falling off. I want to take my skills online and see how I measure up.

"I'll Ro-Sham-Bo you for it"

Ok, maybe I am stupid, but I didn't know what ro-sham-bo meant. I'm sure I have heard the term several times in my life, but the time that sticks out for me is when I watched South Park on DVD (season 1) a few weeks ago. There was a dispute between Cartman and Stan. Cartman suggested they 'ro-sham-bo for it'. When asked what that meant, cartman said that you take turns kicking each other in the nuts until someone gives up. The person that doesn't give up, wins. I thought it was hilarious because someone was getting kicked in the balls.

Last night I watched Criminal Minds and a police officer offered to 'ro-sham-bo' someone for the ugly job of telling a father that his daughter was found dead. I giggled a little (inappropriately due to the situation in the show) because I pictured two grown men kicking each other in the balls on network TV. Now, I know what ro-sham-bo really means. Wikipedia layed it down for me. Rock Paper Scissors would be the game. I don't know why I didn't make the connection when I saw that south Park episode. I guess I am a little dense.

Go read Betsy's blog. The link is on the right. Yet another highschool chum of mine had joined the bloggin' world. Soon we shall take over the internet! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!

More

I think I am getting a little irritated with BSG this season. What started out as a kick ass show with all sorts of action, drama, and great effects has turned into an almost boring show with little action and infused with heavy religious overtones. Baltar is turning into some sort of Christ figure, Roslin is turning into some sort of Moses, Starbuck is being painted as the anti-Christ and the show is more about One God verses many gods than it is Cylons verses humans. Last week's Cylon civil war was exciting, but little else is going on that I am interested in. I'm glad this is the last season. I REALLY hope that there are some exciting changes and revelations to come. The more they say that Starbuck is going to lead the fleet to distruction, the more I think Earth is going to be bad news for the fleet and the Cylons.

I watched an interesting show on NetFlix.com called Dexter. It is a Showtime show about a serial killer with morals. Like Morbius, the comic book vampire, Dexter only kills the wrong doers of the world. Sounds like it would be a weird show, but it is pretty good. Dexter actually works with the police as a CSI. He finds proof of killers and, if the system lets them go, he kills the bad guys. I really liked the show.

As promised, I put more pictures on my Flickr page. Lots of pictures of the kids, the puppy, and some flowers in our yard. There is a link on the right.

stuff

I went ahead and ordered tickets for this coming Ohio state football season. If nothing else, I can go, tailgate, and have some fun. I still hate the idea of paying $130 for two football tickets. I guess that's the price you pay when youare a fan or a perennial powerhouse. The Buckeyes are pre-season number one. It doesn't mean much, seeing as how no one has played yet, but with 18 returning starters, they should have a good team.

I played poker last night. I did pretty good for a while, but then the cards got cold for me. Still, I played for seven hours on my first buy in, so I guess it was an OK night. Some guys bought in several times. I wish I could have taken some of that money home with me, but that's how it seems to be going with me. I walked away when my ace high straight lost to quad kings. Damn. THAT's not something you expect. I did make a great play earlier in the night when I had pocket tens. Another play kept calling me as I bet and then he bet $40 after the last card came out. I read the hand right and made the call on his bluff. He was not happy. I was a little irritated when he said he didn't know if I was a good player that made a good call or a bad player that made a bad call. Whatever. I read him right and won a big pot.

I am going to try to upload some pictures to my Flickr page this weekend. Sorry for the delay.

JJ, I'm sorry

A while back I bashed the idea of Cloverfield. I think I said something about how the 'Godzilla thing' had been done before. SOOOOO SORRY JJ Abrahms! I am about half way though and I engrossed. SO intense! Gotta go!!!

OSU Tickets

Ohio State found a new way to insure sell outs and stick it to us OSU Alumni. There is a new way that they are distributing tickets to alumni. I guess it may be a little better in some ways. Instead of getting stuck with tickets based on how much you donate to the university, all alumni get put into a lottery for all the games. The tickets are then selected randomly. So, instead of getting the crappy first game like usual, I could get Michigan tickets. The down side is, the choice to NOT get tickets because of the crappy game is eliminated. If I get a crappy game, I am stuck with the tickets. I guess I am going to start getting tickets again. If they are for a crappy game, I know some people that I can tail gate with, get some beers into me, and still have a good time.

There was an OSU football "inside the practice" thing on ESPN. Exciting stuff. 18 out of the 22 returning starters are back for a final season together. One last shot at a National Title, I guess. Let's just hope that they don't make it to the game only to lose again to an SEC team. I don't think I could handle that. "We're #2! Again!!!" not a chant I want to be a part of.

Multi Post Maddness!!!

I tend to go days without thinking of things to post, then I get all sorts of stuff at once. I guess it makes sense since I only get the chance to post every once in a while. I could make several posts, save them, and post them periodically, but I am a lazy creature.

Iron Man - I took noah to see Iron Man last night. The previews had me really pumped up for this movie. I was a little worried though because previews tend to show only the good bits of the movie and the rest of the film could suck balls. Plus, Robert Downey Jr is not my favorite actor. However, after seeing the movie, I can't picture another actor playing Tony Stark. He did a good job. All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. the effects were really good, there was good action, some levity, and I think it did pretty well for a 'superhero origin' movie. I am not sure how accurate it was compared to the comic book, but I liked it. The ending was a little predictable, but there aren't any more original ideas out there. It would be difficult to make a movie that didn't have a predictable ending. If you didn't hang around for the final scene (after the credits) you didn't miss much. Apparently, Samuel L Jackson is going to be playing Colonel Fury of SHIELD. I don't see that as a good fit. I like Sam L, but don't see him in this roll.

The Wii is going pretty well so far. The kids love it. I went and bought a few more games and accessories for it yesterday. I got Mario Carts Wii with a racing wheel, Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 4, and a gun thing that came with a Zelda game. The gun and racing wheel are just molded pieces of plastic that the Wii remotes plug into. They just provide stability and a life like feel to the games. When you tuen the wheel right, you turn right. Really, you are just turning the Wii remote, but the wheel helps a little. The gun is a little different. I thought that with Resident Evil 4, the gun thing would work like a gun. Pull the trigger and you shoot. Not quite. If you pull a different trigger and press A, you shoot. Kind of akward and it has turned me off the the game so far. I will go back to it when I have more time. I am tempted to get a classic controller or a Game Cube controller to see if that will make the game play more like Halo 3 on my Xbox 360.

The People Hate Me!!!

"I know! I will pay them to like me!" At least that is what I imagine George Bush though when he decided to give the American people and advance on their tax returns. We should be getting $2100 next week. At least I am doing what he wants me to do. I am spending the money. Fun stuff. First, I bought a new shed. It was on sale at Sears, so I saved $100. It was pretty easy to install. The hard part was trying to get the ground level. I don't think it is quite right, because the dorrs are a bit hard to close. It is hard to make the ground perfectly level.

Next, Jessica just called me to say she found a Wii at Target. I hope she will get a few good games too. I know we should probably pay off bills and try to save some of the money, but it is hard not to be impulsive.

Finally, we have a new addition to the family. I may have mentioned that I've wanted a Boston Terrier for a long time. A guy I know from college had two. I guess they were his mom's, but they are SO cute and fun. Anyway, we got one yesterday. I didn't really want to spend as much as I did, but I was able to talk them down to about half price. We made up for the discount though by buying a cage, bed, and toys. Her name is Daisy. So far, she has been the best behaved puppy ever. Lexie will always be my favorite puppy, but Daisy is right up there too. Only one accident in the house so far. Not too bad for a little doggie. Pictures coming soon.

Even More Stuff

Prom Night was pretty good. It was typical 'crazy person kills teens' movie with a few twists and turns here and there. It was rated PG13, so there was none of the usual 80's slasher film TnA. Still, some of the stereotypes were there. The dumb girl with big boobs was killed first, the girl that was about to screw her boyfriend was killed, and the main character was saved at the last minute. It was a little scary here and there. It was worth the watch.

I don't remember if I mentioned, but when I was at Sears picking up a new lawn mower, my van was clipped by a big ass truck. Granted, I was parked in from of the store waiting for the mower to be loaded (there was no loading zone, but the guy was in a big ass truck and was trying to get passed me and an oncoming car. There just wasn't the room. Personally, if I don't KNOW that I have enough room to get buy, I wait. Apparently, this guy was in more of the "I can make it." mind set. I guess he was in too much of a hurry to wait 30 seconds. Now my car has a nice big dent.

More stuff

I got a call from Herb yesterday. Quite a suprise, since I haven't heard from him in a while. We wanted me to pass the word that he and his wife had another kid. A boy this time. This makes 4.

I got my ass handed to me all night in poker again. My cards just aren't hitting. I did get quads one (four of a kind) but was only able to win $10 out of the hand. It would have been better if there were more people in the hand and someone else had a pair, giving them a full house. Oh well. Life goes on.

Jessica and I are going out tonight. We are going to the Movie Tavern to see Prom Night. It looks like a slasher film. Could be good. Jessica wanted to see it because there are so few 'good slasher movies' out there anymore. It was a toss up between that and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I think it looks funny. I will let you know how Prom night is. It has that cutie from American Dreams and John Tucker Must Die, Brittany Snow. OK, she is pretty hot in that picture, not just cute.

I also started a new NCAA 08 football season. It's been a while since I've played it. I decided to try to get a Heisman Trophy using Hawaii and their quarterback. Basically, pass a lot and all of my run plays are the qb as well. I got an achievement for over 350 passing yards in one game. The Xbox automatically pulled my QB and put in the second stringer. It was fun. I smell Heisman!

Various posts

I've been neglecting my blog. Sorry. I just haven't really been too into it, I guess.

-I am trying to play some cards tonight. I haven't won playing cards for a while. Terrible luck and, let's face it, bad card playing. Hopfully things turn around for me tonight.

-I really would like to become more of a baseball fan. Specifically, a Cleveland Indians fan. I was really into their play off run last year, but for some reason, I just can't get into the regular season. When you can say something like, "The Indians are 2 games below .500 with only 114 games to go." you know that the season is just too long. At least thatis my opinion. The people I really can't understand are these guys that play fantasy baseball. Who has time to track all of those stats? I don't. I think that my baseball fan status will have to be limited to checking out the scores on Sports Center.

-I was really disappointed with one of my NetFlix picks that I watched this week. It was a Simpsons compilation called Bart Wars. It shows a picture of homer and Bart in the Luke/Vader get ups crossing light sabers. I thought that maybe it was a Star Wars spoof, ala Family Guy's Blue Harvest, or at least some episodes with Star Wars references. I was wrong. I guess that's what I get for adding a DVD to my queue without reading the explaination. the DVD was only a set of four episodes with little to do with Star Wars. There was one episode that had Star Wars references, but the rest were old shows that I had seen and were second rate at best. Oh well. You live and you learn.

-I want to go on record that I STILL love my DVR. Last night we watched Grey's Anatomy while recording CSI and then watched CSI while recording Lost and ER. AWESOME!

Jumping the Shark?

Jump the Shark: When the Fonz went water skiing and jumped a shark, it was considered the moment in Happy Days that the show was coming to an end. Has my two favorite shows, Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who jumped their sharks? I have written about these shows often. I love them, have loved them since they started. However, the debut of Dr Who and the beginning episodes of the last season of BSG have been kind of weak.

BSG - I thought that, since we are in the last season, we would be getting answers and the story line would start to progress. Instead, we are getting weak subplots that are taking the show in weird directions. Apparently, Baltar is some religious vessel and hot girls are hiding him in a 'secret' room on Galactica, Apollo wants to be a political pain in the ass of the president, instead of a kick ass viper pilot, and we needed a whole episode to show that at least one of the new Cylons is a murderous bitch. Oh, and Calli can't hold her breath in space. The one saving grace so far has been all of the Cylon in fighting. It has been interesting and had a few suprises here and there. Other than that, this season has been kind of boring.

Dr. Who - I wasn't too thrilled with the season debut of Dr Who. It was an hour and a half long, instead of the normal hour episodes. It was pretty weak. Robots reprogrammed to kill instead of help people. I think they used that plot already. And why are all of the season debuts of Dr Who taking place on Christmas Day? I guess they are trying to show a linear progression of time somehow, but I don't see why when time travel is one of the show's cornerstones. They also seem to be trying to make the David Tennant Dr Who all bad ass. "I'm the Doctor and I'm the one that is going to save you. Any questions?" That may not be the exact quote, but it is close.

I am not going to stop watching these shows, but I hope they get better soon.

How they have fallen

I just saw a commercial for the new Speed Racer movie. The first time I saw a preview/trailer for Speed Racer, I thought it looked retarded. Yes, I watched Speed Racer when I was knee high to a grasshopper, but I have NO craving what-so-ever to see this movie. What makes me sad is that the commercial said that Speed Racer is from the makers of the Matrix. I LOVED the Matrix. How can you make a kick ass movie and then stoop to a corney kid film? Maybe I need to see more before I judge, but I prefir to jump to conclusions in this case.

Hey, did anyone see Cloverfield? It is coming out on DVD next week. I added it to my NetFlix queue. Is it worth the watch?

Starting to get that Football feelin'

Although it is only April, and there is still about five months before the OSU football season officially kicks off, I am already starting to get the OSU Football jones. Probably because the Spring Game is this Saturday. I don't kow if we will be going to the game, but it officially indicates the start of the 2008 season. It is the first taste of the football team as they shake the winter rust off and prepare for another run to the National Title. Honestly, I think it is going to be a great season this year. The Buckeyes only lost four or five starters, so they are basically fielding the same team that went to the title game last year. This is the season that they were suppsed to go to the title game. Last year was supposed to be a 'rebuilding season'.

Another thing that is exciting is that Ohio State signed the top ranked QB prospect, Terrelle Pryor. It was between Penn State, M*ch*g*n, and the Buckeyes. People are already compating him to Vince Young. He is big, fast, and has a cannon for an arm. He never had any real competition in highschool, so going to the college ranks could be a shocker to him. I saw an interview and he seemed pretty full of himself. I am hoping that we don't have another Clarette on our hands. One good thing is that I think he wears number 13, so if he lives up to the hype, I won't have to hear anymore Clarette comments when I wear my number 13 jersey.

Big games of note: at USC, at Wisconsin, Penn State, at Illinois, and M*ch*g*n. The biggest challenge will probably be the game against the Trojans. I remember the home/away series against Texas a few years ago. It was a great series.

For You, Betsy

A while back when I was asking what movies I should add to my NetFlix queue, Betsy asked me to review There Will Be Blood. I had seen commercials and thought that the movie lookes interesting, so I added the movie to my list. It arrived yesterday and I watched it today. Honestly, it was nothing at all like I thought it would be. The previews I have seen made the film look like an old Western movie. I was expecting shoot outs, stage coach chases, you get the meaning. Although this movie was based in the west, it revolved around the big oil rush to Texas. No shoot outs, no chases. Daniel Dey Lewis played the main character, who was an oil prospector that hit it rich. If you remember Gangs of New york, Daniel Day Lewis played the leader of the racist gang and was a real bastard. He is kind of a bastard in this movie too. Although, I won't be buying the film to watch over and over, I somewhat enjoyed the movie. It was very well acted and there were some very engrossing scenes. I guess if you are interested in this film, be wary that it may not be what you expected. Still, entertaining. It is long though, almost three hours. There are some slow spots, but not enough to really turn me off to the movie. I may even watch it again if Jessica wants to watch it tonight or tomorrow.

It Didn't Go Well

Monday and Tuesday I was in Indiana playing cards at Caesar's Casino. I would love to say that I played brilliantly and hit all sorts of hands. It wasn't so. I got OK hands and played them poorly. On top of that, when I got killer hands, I would always get a bad beat. It was terrible. I have never had such piss poor luck when it comes to cards. Examples:

1. I was dealt two kings. That is the second best starting hand in Texas Hold'em. I played them, bet a lot of money, and got my ass handed to me by someone that had pocket aces. The best starting hand.

2. I hit a jack high straight on the river, giving me the best possible straight. Unfortunately, the jack was a spade, giving someone else a flush. A flush beats a straight.

3. THE WORST HAND OF THE TRIP: I was dealt two queens. I bet, was raised, I called. The person betting me had Ace-King of clubs. The flop came up 2, 4, 5 which was OK, except that there were two clubs. So, he needed an Ace, King, any club for a flush and a three for a straight. That makes 17 cards in the deck that will win the hand for my opponent. The turn card came up a 9 of hearts. Then the three of diamonds came on the river. I could have lived with an Ace, a King, or a diamond, but for the lowest possible straight to come on the board was just PAINFUL. It was the last hand I played for the whole trip. I figured that the poker gods were set against me and I needed to cut my losses.

I did play a few other fun games. I didn't win anything, but it was fun. There was Carribean Stud Poker, where you get five cards and try to beat the dealer's five cards. There are also bonuses when you hit big hands. There was a jackpot of about $52000, and if you hit a royal straight flush, you would win the jackpot. It was fun. We played three card poker too, which is similar. Actually, I just watched that. We played blackjack as well, and the bealer was being brutal. When we would hit 20, she would hit 21. The worst was when she had a 6, which is a great card for the dealer to have. It is easy for the dealer to bust. She then dealt herself a five and a ten....21. We walked away from that table. All in all, it was fun. The dealers were nice and helped if you didn't understand the games.

We Are the Champions

You 2008 NIT National Champions: THE Ohio State Buckeyes!!!

Is a national champion still a national champion even if they won the consolation tournament? Last night Ohio State proved that they are the best of what's left by winning the NIT title. I would be excited by this, but really, who cares about the NIT? On one hand, it is a title, and Ohio State may hang a banner in their arena, but on the other hand, there are basically 65 teams that the powers that be thought were better than the Buckeyes. Otherwise, wouldn't they have been invited to the NCAA Tournament? Screw that! We are the Champoins! WOO HOO. We Buckeye fans need SOMETHING to hang our hat on after all of the big games we have lost in the past few years. In reality, if they had gone to the 'Big Dance' they would most likely have been bounced out by the second round.

You would think that the NIT champ would then go on to better things, but out of the last four NIT champs, only one has gone to the NCAA tourney, one went back to the NIT, and the other two (including M*ch*g*n) did not go to any tournament. I doubt that will be the case, seeing as how OSU is getting a seven footer that would go to the NBA, if not for the new rule requiring all NBA players to go to their first year of college.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

I know, a lame title that has been WAY over used, I'm sure. Anyway, since the kids were on spring break and we wanted them to enjoy themselves, they went to both the Circus and the Zoo. I didn't go to the circus because Jessica took them on the same night as my big poker game. I kinda wanted to go just to watch the kids have fun. I guess they were a little leary of the clowns. Still, they rode rides and watch circus-y stuff. Pictures are on my Flickr page. I did go to the zoo though. I am not really a huge zoo fan, but I again wanted to watch the kids have fun. Ally touched a snake, but Gabe was a little scared, I think. It seemed like animals were attracted to him though. One snake followed him (in it's cage) as he walked by and a stingray came right up to him (in it's tank) as he walked by. Again, pictures on my Flickr page. the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, so it was worth it.

The wait is almost over

I saw in the weekly television guide that Battlestar Galactica starts this Friday at 10:00. WOO HOO!!! This will be the last season of my favorite show. Last season got a little weird for me, what with all the major characters ending up being Cylons. I'm still not sure if I buy that. Anyway, it was really frustrating knowing that the season was ending and that we has over a year to wait for new shows. At least we got Razor to tide us over a bit. We know that they will find Earth, but not much more than that. I am excited to see where they go with this season. I can only assume that it will be chalk full of plot and excitement. If they are going to end the story there is alot of things that will need to happen. I only hope that there won't be a shitty spin off like there was after the original BSG. There was a group of kids stranded on Earth with two Viper pilots. Since the gravity on Earth was 'less than they were used to' the kids were able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. The Vipers could also become invisible to be hidden on earth. It was a really bad show. Still, BSG in five days! WOO HOO!!!!

What a CRAZY Night

I went to play some cards last night. It was a damn long drive from my house, but all my friends told me it was worth the trip. The night started out with a big tournament and ended with some cash games. There were 64 people in the tournament and the payout for first place was over $1000. I was looking forward to the challenge. Things started well for me in the first round, as I more than doubled my chips. I hit three ace high flushes in the first hour. Then, we switched tables and things went south. My cards got cold and I started playing sloppy. I think I was getting cocky. Anyway, out of 64 people, I came in 13th. I didn't win any money, but I still did pretty well in my book.

There were a few things I didn't like about this game. First, you changed tables after every round. This is usually not done. Usually, when a table loses people, that table is mixed up within the other existing tables. You get to stay where you are (unless you are at the table that needs to move). It threw off my game a little. I got a feel for the table I was playing at and then we had to move. Second, there were no side pots. If one person had five chips and went all in, the maximum anyone else could bet was the five chips. If not for this rule, there were a few hands that I could have bet more to get weak hands out, giving me a better chance of winning the pot. Oh well. I won't complain much. I just probably won't play there again.

The cash games were poker, only in the loosest terms. Anyone in the hand would basically throw their money into the pot and then hope their cards hit. For example, I had pocket queens to start. I bet big and several people called me. The flop came up COMPLETE garbage, something like 9-4-6, all different suits. I bet big again, got another call. The turn was another 4, I bet, get called. The river card doesn't matter because the person calling me played with a 7-4. He called a five dollar bet with a 7-4. I guess it worked because he won the hand, but I was just amazed. Whatever. I probably won't play there again.

I Never Got This Much Crap

So, I a my parent's house for Easter. My cousins, Carrie and Jason, and my Aunt Carol and Uncle Terry are here as well. Jessica got suck working this weekend, so I am handling kid wrangling myself. Ok, not really. For those of you with kids, you know that, having relatives around is like having free day care. It is nice. My mom, aunt, and cousin Carrie are handling all of the kid stuff: baths, changing, dressing, teeth brushing, etc. It is like a little vacation. In my new found free time, I am going through all of my mom's digital pics and uploading them to my Flickr page. There are alot and it is taking em a while. My parents have broad band internet, but not my blazing fast business class Road Runner that Nationwide is paying for me to have at my house. What would take me a minute to down load is taking me five minutes here. Plus, there are ALOT of pictures. You know grandparents and taking pictures of their grand kids. I think my mom may actually have more than I do! Ok, maybe not. Still, if/when you check my Flickr page, there will be some pictures that are not in chronilogical order. Sorry.

So, the rest of the day is going to be filled with family time and then the traditional eating too much. We will have the usual ham, potatoes, and green bean caserole. My mom also request that Jessica make her sweet potatoe caserole. Yum. Not to mention, last night my mom get these bake-at home- pizzas from Papa Murphy's (I think). They were pretty good. She got three family sized pizzas for 10 people. These things were HUGE. Pretty good too. They had a stuffed pizza which was really good. I think that there are some in Columbus, but I don't know that I liked it ehough for me to want to get them myself. I prefer Donatoes.

I don't remember ever getting as much candy as my mom got for my kids. She bought all the candy so that I didn't have to hide it on the trip up to Monclova. There were SO many bags of candy that I only put about half of it in their baskets. Yikes. Anyway, I hope that all is well with everyone and that you are all eating way too much with your friends and family. Happy Easter!

Hoppy Easter

I hope everyone has a nice holiday. I will be taking the kids up to my parent's house. I am dreading the car ride since I will be taking the kids solo. Jessica has to work this weekend. Yikes. It shouldn't be too bad. We will probably pick up my cousin on the way, so she will hopfully be able to help out a bit. It should be OK. I will probably be bored all by myself (wife-free). Oh well.

Scroll down a bit for a cute picture of Ally in bunny ears.

Funny Stuff about Dookie and Pee

Sorry if this is a gross post, but I think poo and pee are funny. Especially when there are foods and drinks that alter poo and pee in funny ways.

Asparagus - I LOVE asparagus. It is SO good sauteed with butter, some salt, and pepper. YUM. However, I get 'asparagus pee' after I eat asparagus. It smells weird. Not necessarily bad, but weird. It certainly does not smell good. Anyone know why that is?

Heineman's wine - I ordered some more wine from the winery on Put-In-Bay island in Lake Erie. They only deliver to Ohio. It is GOOD stuff. If you order a case, you cost will break down to about 7 or 8 dollars per bottle, which is what you'd pay for a pretty good bottle in the stores. Anyway, I don't know why, but when I drink this wine, it makes my poo smell weird. Again, not bad, but weird. Certainly not good either. Maybe it is the sulfites in the wine.

Red white and blue sprinkles - When I used to work at Friendly's in my college days, we would screw around and eat rainbow sprinkles. They were there for Fourth of July sundaes. Anyway, large quantities of red white and blue sprinkles will make your poo blue.

Beets - Pickled beets will make your poo turn red. THAT is a shocker the first time you see it.

This used to be my favorite picture of Ally. It is still SO cute, but here are a few more that may challenge it as my favorite. Both have been taken within the last few months. It is pretty rough having the cutest girl ever as my daughter. For one thing, it is hard to get angry at her when she is rotten and shen she is bigger, I am going to have to beat the boys away with a stick. Oh yeah, plus she knows I am her bitch. I am in SO much trouble.

Yes, It Was a Schload

As Mona commented, we got a "schload" of snow a week or so ago. Some areas of Columbus received about 20 inches of snow, but we only got about a foot. Still, it sucked. I have a small driveway and it still took me a hour to shovel. Not much fun. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow though. The snow came while Jessica was at work and she got stranded there. She had to work the next day, so she stayed the night and came home the following day after the roads have been cleared a bit. Luckily, when our street was plowed, then snow was pushed to the other side of the street so I didn't have to shovel again. Our dog, Moose, had a hard time taking his pee breaks in the back. He is only about a foot tall, so he needed to bound through the snow. I think he liked it, except for when the snow was above his head. It was HILARIOUS to watch. There were circles in the snow from where he was leaping through the snow.

More pictures on my Flickr page.

Good Night Bad Morning

I played me some cards last night. I did pretty well, ending up with $120 more than I started with. :-) The night started out slow, with my losing $50, but I turned things around, started playing smarter, and began hitting hands. The hand of the night was a Royal Flush (A, K, Q, J, 10 of clubs) and unfortunately it was against me. Still, it only cost me $10. What sucked is that I started the hand with two pair (AA and 10 10). Oh well. A great hand like that is rare. The ride home was interesting, what with the pea soup fog and barely able to see five feet in front of my car.

This morning was rough, waking up after four hours of sleep. Coffee is good. It was bad because, apparently, we have vandals in the neighborhood. Several of the mail boxes in the area have been knocked down. Boo. I must say though, I am proud of my workmanship. I put up a new mail box post this summer and my mail box is NOT knocked down. It is at an angle, but not knocked down. Hoodlems SUCK.

Movies Update

I watched a bunch of movies this week. In case you care:

The Lookout - This starred the kid from Third Rock From the Sun. It is about a guy that gets into a car wreck, loses his short term memory, and then gets invilved with some bad guys that want to rob a bank. It sounds a little out there, but it was actually pretty good.

No Country for Old Men - I had high hopes for this one, but was a little disappointed. It was pretty good, but not as good as I thought it would be. It was totally against the normal movie line. The hero dies, the bad guy gets away, and Tommy Lee Jones just kind of fades away. I am glad I didn't buy it.

Dejavu - Should have been called DejaBOO. It had some good action sequences, but was REALLY dumb. Like Time Cops, only less likely. I won't go beyond that.

Scrubs really rocks still. LOVE this show.

NetFlix woes

I am running out of NetFlix ideas again. It's my fault, really. I had all six season of Scrubs lined up, but I decided that I liked it so much that I went out and bought them all. Best Buy had them for $20 each. I can't resist a good deal. Plus, Scrubs makes me laugh out loud and I knew Jessica wanted to see it too. I guess I have a few things in my queue still, 11 to be exact. Five movies and the first season of Prison Break. I never really wanted to watch Prison Break, the concept seemed dumb, but my friend Jesse said I should give it a shot. Really though, how much can you do with the story line of breaking out of a jail? Then, they get stuck in another jail. I will keep an open mind. The five movies I have lined up are:

Beowulf: I don't really like the whole "cartoon based off of real people's images" concept, but the movie looked OK.

American Ganster: I hear it is really good.

Michael Clayton: ditto above

Mad Max: an oldie but a goodie

Grindhouse: Planet Terror: Looked silly in the trailers, but I saw Deathproof and it was really entertaining. I figured I'd give the other 'Grindhouse' film a shot.

So, when I am done with these movies and Prison Break, I am out of movie ideas. I guess I watch too many for my own good. Another thing is that my DVD burner has pooped out on me. I guess I just have to buy them now if I want to keep the movie.

Good Bowling Night

I rocked out on the bowling lanes last night. Three 200+ games. I love it when I am on my game. It hasn't happened too much this year. My average is respectable in the 180's, but last year it was in the 190's. I'm not sure why I am off pace this year. The final tally for my night: 215, 220, and 243 = 678. I was hoping for a 700 series, but I had a few bad breaks. Still, it is my best night of bowling this year. Even better is that my team won all of our games. The first game, we were down going into the tenth frame and we rolled ten strikes in the tenth frame to win the game. It was sweet.

Scrubs is Fun

I have been watching the back episodes of Scrubs lately. It is HI-larious. Great characters, good story, oh and HI-larious!!! Plus, there are all sorts of hot girls in the show that often show up in skimpy outfits. I guess it is very realistic too. Jessica works with several doctors and they say that Scrubs is the most similar to real life hospital work. I am on season three now. Tara Reed is joining the show this episode. I don't get why everyone thinks she is so hot. She is OK, I guess, but is WAY to skinny.

To MySpace or Not to MySpace

I have a MySpace account. I never use it, have never really done anything with it, and was suprised when I already had friend requests. Granted, they were all friend requests from porn sites or dating services, not real people, but I was still suprised, considering I have really done nothing with the account. I am really on my fence a bit as to whether or not I want to do anything with the account. It has been open since September. I put all of my pictures on Flickr and all of my bloggin' here, so do I really need a MySpace page? I guess if I want to become a sexual preditor, it is the way to go (I am SO joking about that). Is there really anything that is better about MySpace, as opposed to Blogger?

I don't think I am a fan of MySpace. Not necessarily as a user, but as a parent. As you may or may not know, teens LOVE myspace. They get to act all big and important in the non-parental-supervised world of the internet. Noah has a MySpace page. It is a little funny how kids try to act all bad-ass. Still I digress. Although I do not think any perverts have contacted Noah, his biologocal father's family has. We are not thrilled about this. I guess it was inevitable, but MySpace gave these people an opening into our lives that is shady and cowardly. They owe us THOSDANDS of dollars in child support and have never been involved in Noah's life (no birthday presents, no Christmas presents, etc). I say it is shady and cowardly because they are bypassing us to get to him. We are not forbiding the contact, but we told Noah to watch out and not to give them any personal information. He is acting all excited about the whole 'new family' idea, but I don't think he is thinking about the fact that these people have never really tried to be in his life for 14 years. I don't think they should be able to visit even see him until they are paid up in child support. WOW!!! Did I get of the subject!

I guess I may play around with my MySpace page, but not too much. I will add a link to my blog if I ever set up the page.

General Postings

1. My card game Friday was fun. I had a really rough night though. I couldn't hit a hand to save my life and some of the people I play with play with garbage that they should fold. Then they hit their hand and win. It is a little rediculous, but it backfires on them when they don't hit their hand. I played with WAY more money than I wanted to. I wanted to play with no more than $100, but I lost that, then another $100, and finally, with my last $40, I won back most of it. All in all, I am down $50 for the night. The last hour saved my ass. I doubled up twice. I am glad I have a forgiving wife. She could get mad with my gambling, but she knows I usually win more than I lose. All of my card playing for the year, and I am only down $50. Not bad, in my opinion. Especially since, after I win the WSOP Main Event, I will be a millionaire.

2. You know it's a slow sports day then ESPN is carrying speed billiards. I didn't really watch much of it, but from what I saw, they had to make all the balls as fast as then could. I'm not sure if they had to go in a certain order. If they missed a shot, they were penalized and if they didn't call a shot (aka "slop") they were penalized.

3. My bank sucks right now. It is transitioning from a credit union to a bank. I don't know the differences, really, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Anyway, this week they were converting a lot of things to different systems and everything got all screwed up. My ATM card stopped working, I had to re-register for online banking, and apparently, several people were having their checks bounce. I didn't have that issue, but it has been a pain not being able to get cash out of the ATM. Anyway, I got a message this weekend stating that all of the issues are supposed to be fixed now. Let's hope so. I I have to go another week without being able to get cash, I will have to change banks.

Big Game Tonight

I am having a card game tonight. It should be a good time. It is not going to be a big game, only ten people, but it is going to be a high dollar cash game. I made the buy in $50. Since people can buy in several times, I am thinking that there will be about $1000 on the table. Fun stuff. I would like to win it all, but will be happy with doubling my initial $50 buy in. I would love to get enough to pay for my entire Caesar's Indiana trip. Still, just as long as I have fun and win a little bit, I will be happy.

Speaking of my Indiana trip, I just found a voucher for a free room. This means that I only will need to pay my buy in and for food and drink. I am hoping to do well in the tournament so that I spend all the time playing in the tourney and not much time at cash tables. That is where I could potentially lose alot of money. Still, I am getting mu bonus from work this month, so I have the costs covered. Fun stuff!

Halo 3: The new Love Affair

As you know, I play Halo 3 alot. I love that game. Lately, I had been getting a little tired of playing, since I don't seem to be getting anywhere with my ranking. I have been yo-yo-ing from level 25 to level 30. I guess it depends on if I am on my game or not. Some days I play better than others. Anyway, I found a new spark to feul my Halo 3 obsession. Team Slayer. I played a little with some friends I know, but their ranking for team slayer is much higher than mine. I should say WAS a lot higher. they are all mostly level 20 or higher and I was level 3. It made finding a match harder because of the different skill levels. Anyway, I started playing team slayer on my own (just searching for a game and finding random players to play with) and in a span of two days, I have brought my level up to 17. Of course, since I am a level 25-30 Major in solo slayer, I was basically kicking the shit out of inexperienced players for a while. One game, I had 20 of my team's kills (out of 50) and died only eight times. I was ROLLIN'! Anyway, I have met a few players that I like playing with, so I guess we sorta have a set team. We sometimes win, sometimes don't. It is a helluva lot of fun though.

General Post

1. When did Moe grow a beard? I logged into Blogger.com just now, and this picture popped up as one of their current members. I don't know why I could care that this Mountain Man Moe is a member of Blogger.com, but the doppelganger pic gave me a chuckle.

2. Working from home is nice some times. 300 central Ohio schools are closed today, due to snow. I was watching the news and the trafic report said that there was a car overturned at the exit I would use to get to my office (if I were to go to my office). The downside is that, if people call off because of the snow or the office closes because of the snow, I get to pick up all the slack.

3. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but I got a poker DVD through NetFlix a while back. It really changed the way I think about playing poker. I would like to say that I am unstoppable now, but I still have some bad habits I need to break. Plus, winning poker really depends on the cards that you get (to a large degree). Sure, you can bluff every hand, but that wouldn't work for long. Still, the last two games I played, I came in 3rd and 2nd place.

4. What the fuck is going on with Lost? (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!) The show is good enough that I am going to watch the rest of the season, but I think that the writers smoke a bag of pot before writing and try to think what they can do to give watchers more questions. "How can we fuck with them this week?" I am getting really thrown by the way they are showing flash forwards. Mostly the time lime is throwing me. In the season opener, we see Jack and Kate meeting with Jack saying they need to go back. Last night we see Kate on trial. Did the trial happen before or after their other meeting? Plus, we see Aaron looking like a three year old. Why wouldn't Jack want to see him? I assumed it was because Kate got knocked up by Sawyer. I think probably the biggest question now is, why are there only six survivors from the island? Did everyone else die ro stay? I really want to kick Locke in the balls for being so wishy washy and a whiney little bitch. AAAARRRGH!!!! There are just SO many questions about this show! There are so many new questions that I am forgetting old questions from previous seasons!

TV Updates

So, Knight Rider was a bit of a disappointment. They spent entirely too much time on making the car effects look cool, used them too many times, and forgot that plot is pretty important to a show as well. I am hoping that it was just a pilot episode blunder. The effects were good, but not enough to make up for a weak story and a stupid cameo by David Hasselhoff. Plus, I was really hoping for an appearance by the original KITT. There were also some time line issues. KITT is supposed to go hundreds of miles per hour, and yet the bad guys were always one set ahead of Mike (the new good guy). Yes, the bad guys had a helicopter, but they are not as fast as a super powered Mustang. Maybe it was the "as the crow flies" routes they took instead of being confined to roads. I will give Knight Rider another shot, but it may fall to the way side if it does not get better.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is still pretty good. I am a little worried that they are going to try to make too much of character intrigue. They are casting suspicion on Uncle Reese a bit and making some conflict between him and Summer Glau. I guess they need to do something to make the show more than just fighting T-888s. I still like the show alot. I just hope they don't ruin it by trying to make too much out of it.

Ain't I Sweet?

This is a picture of Jessica's Valentine's Day present. I know, I know.... flowers die, but they always seem to make her happy. I usually ger roses, but decided to switch things up a bit. I thought these looked nice. Plus, I thought the vase was nice. I felt a little bad because I was out a little late. Valentine's Day fell on my bowling night. Still, it was an OK day, I guess. I usually don't get into Valentine's Day much more than dinner and a card or flowers and a card. I guess that is more than some guys do. Jessica got me a Vader bobble head. Fun stuff.

Multi-Bloggin'

I was bored at work yesterday (we were out of work and I was counting the minutes before I could log off) so I did a blog search on poker. I found several blogs and checked a few out. The first didn't have much to offer, but the second was slightly interesting. Hella Hold'em is the site name. I haven't read much of it, but what I did read, I liked a bit. Anyway, during the search, I found the person first and she had several blogger pages. One looked like a general posting blog, there was the poker blog, and a few others. I wonder, does the author have too much time on her hands, or does she separate her posts for her readers. I'm sure that most of you would rather skip my OSU football posts. Should I have an OSU blog for football season? I know Amy did it while she was preggers. I would check both on occasion. Honestly, I doubt I will check this stranger's daily blog, but I was glad to find the poker blog. I don't think I am going to separate my posts into two or more blogs. Honestly, I don't have enough time or material to multi-blog. So, I guess you will just have to read this some days and skip it on others.

Speaking of poker I won a bit of cash last night. I bought in for $40 and left with $101. I can live with that. I would have won more, but I went all in with pocket aces and lost to pocket kings. A third king came up on the board and kicked my ass. I had a bad feeling that he had kings, but had to play my hand. It cost me about $80. I hate those hands where I know I am beat but have to play anyways.

Enough is Enough Already

Ok Winter, you can go away now. I usually don't mind this time of year. I like cold weather. The snow and ice is what I am getting tired of. Trash day was Tuesday, during a long snow and rain storm. The lid was left off the can, so it filled up and then froze. Plus, it melted a little during the day and refroze, effectively freexing the trash can to the ground. I fixed that yesterday by bumping it (on purpose) with my car, but it is heavy as hell because of the ice in the bottom. Don't get me started on my gas bill. I guess what I am saying is, I am ready for Spring.

I'm sure I have already mentioned, but Spring is my favorite time of the year. I love all the green stuff popping out of the ground. Tree blossoms, flowers, green grass, are all so nice in the spring. Plus, the temperature is perfect and there are no bugs. I also look forward to the gardening/landscaping plans I think up during the winter. Sure, it is tiring, but I like making my yard look nice. I sort of let things slide last summer, so I have alot to do thins coming Spring. I want to expand some flower beds and 'fix' my front yard. There is a big tree in the front and its roots are popping up making it hard to mow the grass. That means putting down dirt to comer the roots and then planting grass. While I am at it, I am going to put in a flower bed around the tree. I also need to prune my trees and bushes and spread mulch. I don't enjoy those things too much. The bad things about alot of flower beds are the mulching and pulling weeds. I will probably take a week off to get all of these things done. Fun stuff. Actually, if starting a business isn't so scary, I would do landscaping stuff as a career.

A Happy Birthday Present we want to return

Why have a party for your kid's birthday at Chuck E Cheese's? Games, pizza, fun all around.

Why NOT have a party at Chuck E Cheese's? Germs, bacteria, and viruses all over the place.

Since Gabriel's party last Friday, both he and Ally have been sick. This illustrates how parents are irresponsible and allow sick kids in a public places so that they can spread their germs and also illustrates how poorly Chuck E Cheese's crew cleans and sanitizes. It isn't the same illness either, I don't think. Ally has had a runny nose, bad cough, and a mild fever. Gabe has a higher fever and a cough, not so much the runny nose. Ally seems to be getting better, but Gabriel's fever has been going strong since Sunday. He is being a trooper, saying that he feels OK, but that fever just won't go away. This will be his fourth missed day of school this week. Jessica is taking him to a doctor today. Hopfully, he will kick this soon so that he can go back to school. Not that I want to get rid of him, he likes school and is sad when he can't go. Seriously.

The Orange Box

Since I finished Bioshock, I wanted to get a new FPS (first person shooter) game. I was thinking about Turok, which looks pretty good, but I went with a game that I knew more about. Although they called it The Orange Box, it is really Half Life 2. I had played Half Life on my PC WAAAAAAAY back in the day. The situation is kinda like Doom 3, what with the old game getting new life on the new gaming console. Anyway, the reason I went with Half Life 2 is because I remember that the old game scared me a bit and was quite fun. Although I have only played The Orange Box for a few hours, it is not disappointing. The graphics are good and, so far, it is playing quite well. I am trying to get to some doctor's lab through a maze of tunnels with bad guys trying to kill me. Not an easy task since the tunnels are dark and hard to get though.

Another feature of The Orange Box is called Portal. I haven't played it yet, but have heard good things about it. You get to be the unwilling participant in some lab experiments, like getting through mazes and solving puzzels. My firends say that it is something that I "need to try." I am unsure if I will give Portal a shot right away or get all the way through Half Life first. Plus, I still will need to feed my Halo 3 addication. One bad thing about Half Life is that the buttons are a little different than H3. Hopfully it won't though me off too much when I switch back and forth between the two games.

On a side note: FUCK ME!!!! IT'S COLD!!!!! The pipes to our shower are frozen. Luckily the other shower is fine.

Party Time

I can't believe it, but my little boy is turning six this weekend. It amazes me how quickly he seems to be growing up. Again, Gabriel asked that we have his party at Chuck E Cheese's. That is OK by me. The kids have fun and we don't need to clean up at all. I think three or four of Gabe's friends will be coming along. My parents will be here as well. The party is tonight, but his actual birthday is this Sunday. He also lost his first tooth this week. He lost it at school, and then he lost it at school, so the tooth fairy didn't get to take it. He still got a dollar though.He has other loose teeth, so pretty soon he will be missing all his front teeth. I think kids are cute when they are missing their front teeth.

Anyway, I will be sure to post pictures of the party on my Flickr site.

Poker on the Brain

I know I have been posting about poker alot lately. Sorry. Really though, I would love it if I could make playing cards my career. I know I am not good enough for all that and Jessica would probably frown at moving to Las Vegas, but could you imagine playing cards for your job? how fun would that be?

I am going to watch an instructional DVD today about playing in tournaments. It will probably be boring and include alot of things that I already know, but if I can learn something to improve my game, it will be worth it. I am playing in a little tournament tonight and will be playing in the big one in April. you all know that though, so I won't go over that again.

I won a tournament on my Xbox yesterday. I was pretty happy. I got three achievements for it, which I need to catch Woody in achievement points. He made a huge jump this past month. Anyway, it was a seven card stud game, which is really different from Texas Hold'em. In seven card stud, you get two cards face down (you can look at them) and one card face up. There is a round of betting, another card face up, a round of betting, another card face up (betting), another card face up (betting), and a final card face down. Basically, you get three cards face down and four face up. You make the best five card hand out of the seven cards. You get to see half of your opponent cards, so it kinda makes the game a bit interesting.

I was thinking about getting a card related tattoo. I'm not sure what or where though. I was thinking about an ace of spades with the Japanese symbol for the word patience in the center. My biggest poker problem is being over aggressive when I should fold cards. I was also thinking about a spades royal flush. I just don't know where I would get a tattoo. I am kinda hairy, so placement would be difficult. I would be silly to get a tat and have hair grow all over it. I'm not Robin Williams hairy, at least. I was thinking either my calf or my forearm. Probably some place hidden so that my parents wouldn't give me crap about it. Actually, I don't care about that. Cost is another issue for me. Tattoos can be expensive. Especially if I were to get the royal flush. I'll probably just go with the Ace of spades idea.

Not Going Well Bloggin' in 08

It's been a slow blog year so far. Sorry about that. I don't really know the reason. Maybe I am just running out of things to babble about. Let's face it, I don't exactly have the most exciting life. I get up, get out of bed, drag a comb across my head...... Go downstairs and drink a cup..... ok, ok, you know the song. Seriously though, I don't really do too much that is intersting enough to write about my daily life. Maybe my life has gotten even more bull, since January 08 has the fewest posts in one month since 06. Maybe I am just getting lazy.

Anyway, the Super Bowl was on last night. I am glad the Giants won. Not because I like the Giants, I just dislike the Patriots. They cheat and are sore losers. Their coach left the field before the game was officially over. Are you kidding me? Show some class, you dick.

I watched House after the Super Bowl last night. It is one of our usual shows. I was a bit leary about this episode when I started seeing the commercials. (SPOILER ALERT) They were video phone calling someone in the South Pole and talking them through tests and diagnosis. They made the patient poke, prod, and stick herself over and over trying to figure ou twhy she was dying. It was highly unbelievable. After all the tests and telling her she was dying, it turned out she had a broker toe. Are you kidding me? How retarded. "Sorry we made you stab yourself with a needle and then drill a hole in your head. Our bad."

Jessica's New Ride

We went to the car dealership to get a new car for the family. I was on the fence about getting myself a truck or getting Jessica a car. We decided on a car. Initially, we were looking for a used Toyota Yaris that was on the web for $11900. I think it was a 2003 model. With the payment we could put down, the payments wouldn't be too bad. Unfortunately, when the salesman started up the car, it sounded like shit. Plus, it was obvious that the windows were left open during a rain storm at some point. The seats were wet, the windows fogged up, and a mildew smell was present. So, we started looking around some, test drove a Toyota Carolla and then a Toyota Matrix. The Matrix is basically the same as a Carolla, but has more room and an SUV-type body. We ended up going with the Matrix. If you want to check it out, follow this link. It is a little more than I wanted to spend, but it is a 2004 model and looks brand new. It has some milage on it, but we have a five year warranty and Toyotas tend to last forever. Plus, Jessica really likes it. I just hope she doesn't wreck this one. It has some really cool features, including an actual plug outlet, a moon roof, and I think a plug for your MP3 player to go into. I must admit, I am a little jealous. I guess it is a little small for me, if I want anyone to ride in the back seat, but I like the extra features she gets to play with.

Best Time of the Year

Well, for us it is. Tax time is always fun for us. The best thing about having kids isn't making them. The best thing about kids is the tax credit that you get after the end of the year. Especially if you have more than one. Ok, Ok. I guess the love that you get from them is OK too. Anyway, I think I still have my tax reporting through work indicating that I am single. This means more money is taken out during the year and a bigger refund. I't kind of like a savings. I won't tell you how much we are getting back, but I will say that we are going to buy a new shed for the back yard and a new garage door. Maybe a new lawn mower. After that, we should have a substantial amount left over. An indicator at how much we get back: we got our last W2 on Thursday and out return was mailed today. Give me my money back Uncle Sam! Plus, we should get the $800 bonus refund from G Dubya. He is an idiot, but he sure likes to give us money back.

Ever have a conversation take a SHARP turn?

So, I went to Krogers last night to pick up a bottle of wine to have with dinner. I went in, got the wine, and went straight to the checkout line, no hustle, no bustle. I like to powershop. Anyway, the cashier was under age, so she had to call someone over to ring up my purchase. So, it was me, the guy scanning the wine, and the bag girl. As I am waiting, the conversation between these three people went to the fact that the cashier didn't like the dark and slept with a night light. I understood this, since I have trouble sleeping in pitch black. The guy ringing up the order laughed at the girl, so I jokingly chastized him, asking why he had to make fun. "Lots of people sleep with night lights." This is when the turn took place. The SHARP turn. The cashier who started the night light talk said something like, "Yeah, I need to have a light on when I sleep. I see demons." Bwwwhhhhaaaattt????? She had a dead serious look on her face. I quickly shut my mouth, paid, and ran. How do you have a conversation at your work, in front of customers, where you state that you see demons? Wow.

That is all I can say.

General stuff

1. I started playing Marvel Universe Ultimate Alliance this weekend. It was free with my latest Xbox. I finished Bioshock and wanted to play something new. I think I am getting frustrated with Halo 3 and not getting better in the multi player stuff. Plus, I can never find buddies online to play with. Anyway, I guess MUUA is OK. I don't really like third person perspective in games, but it is unavoidable in this case. It would be too hard to make this a first person game. My favorite mutant to use is Wolverine. Probably because he is my favorite mutant. All in all, this is not my favorite game, but it is good enough to make me want to finish it.

2. Jessica wrecked her car last week. I am not thrilled with the situation, but at least she is OK. It was not a serious accident, be the car was totaled. I am just glad that I got the top grade insurance on the car, or else I would have been screwed. We would have lost money instead of getting a check from the insurance company. I am going to use it to put a down payment on a new car. I should say a used car. I can't afford a new car. Really, I just want something that Jessica can drive to work and back. I don't mind doing most of the driving. I am thinking another Toyota or a Honda. Those cars are usually reliable for a long time.

3. I got my butt kicked in cards last Friday. I couldn't catch a hand to save my life. The best hand that I got all night was a king high flush and I got my ass kicked by a straight flush. It was pretty frustrating. I played for five hours, so I wasn't being wreckless, it was more like a slow, painful, bleeding of chips from my stack. You will have nights like that though. Considering that I have been winning money most of the time, it is OK when I lose a bit. I really take those nights as learning experiences. To put it into perspective, I once read an interview with some pro poker players, and one of them said that it was not a big deal to lose $1mil in a month because you will likely win it back next month. WOW! Anyway, I have been keeping track of my poker money since January 1st and I am only down $40 so far for 2008.

It's almost that time again.....

It amazes me how time seems to whiz by now that I am over 30. The days seem to melt together into the weeks and months. In two months, I will be going to Caesar's casino in Indiana for another shot at their World Series of Poker tournament. If you remember, I played last year and got my butt kicked. I had a full house and lost to a better full house. Craziness. Still, I had a good time and I am sure that I am a better player from the experience. Now, I have almost another year or poker playing under my belt and think that I could really make a run in a big tournament. Unfortunately, like my bowling game, my poker playing is inconsistant. I have been winning alot lately, but there are times that I make big mistakes that cost me big money. All in all, I have only lost money in a night of cards twice since November. I may not win a lot of money, but I win. I think my main problem is that I am impatient and tend to bet when I shouldn't. Over-aggressiveness is the word. Still, I am reading players better and playing my hands better.

A test for my readiness will occur tomorrow night. My friend is having a big cash game with alot of people I have never played with. I want to see how I do against people I don't know. I am hoping for a big night so that I can win enough money for the $340 WSOP buy in. I have won that much in a night before, but it is rare. My goal over the next two months is to win enough so that can pay the buy in and hotel stay with cash. $1000 should do.

A fun fact about my poker playing: I have been playing off of the same $40 since November.

Not sure what I think about this.....

Watching TV last night, I saw a commercial that took me off guard. I wasn't really paying attention, so I wasn't sure I saw what I saw. Instant replay (DVR) confirmed the call on the field and a new Knight Rider series is set for the 2008 season. As the title indicates, I am not sure how I feel about this. I was a fan of the old show, staring David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight and his kick ass, bullet-proof, talking car, KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand). Knight would drive around the country helping those in need. Some of the most memorible episodes included KITTs evil twin, KARR and a huge, armored semi truck (I forget the truck's name). Obviously, TV producers are through looking for new ideas. Battlestar Galactica seems to have opened the flood gates for remakes of the 80 sci-fi show. Now, we have Bionic Woman, which I don't watch anymore (it bored me), BSG, a GREAT show, Doctor Who, another great show, and soon, Knight Rider. Plus, there are movies based on old shows coming out as well (Get Smart comes to mind). I know that originality in television and movies is a think of the past, but you would think that they would make more of an effort to produce something new. Look at Cloverfield, a movie with the Bad Robot label of JJ Abrams. I haven't seen it, but watching the preview, does anyone else think it is Godzilla all over again? I am a little suprised by this, considering the one truly original show, Lost, is a Bad Robot production. I guess that there just aren't any new ideas out there.

Not much to write about lately.....

Three posts in thirteen days is not how I want to run this blog. Sorry for being lazy. Actually, it is more that I don't really have too much going on to post about.

I could write about movies I have watched lately, but none of them have been very good. Mostly they are predictable B films that looked mildly interesting. Let's just say that I am getting to the dregs of my NetFlix queue. Only about ten more DVDs until I am to zero. Lately, I have been watching the so-so films I kinda wanted to see, but not enough to pay good money for them. I can't even remember the names of the movies I've watched. That should tell you how bad it has gotten. You may think that I watch too many movies and you are probably right, but they are mostly to have as background noise while I work. If there is a movie I really want to watch, I wait and make sure I can give it my full attention.

Noah is doing pretty well with his arm. He had to go back to the ER twice because the cast was too tight and was cutting off the circulation to his fingers. Mostly, he is being a drama queen and acting like he is the first person to ever break his arm. I guess I was a little over dramatic when I broke mine, but hearing the same stories over and over is getting a little old. Plus, he is acting helpless, like a person couldn't survive life with only one arm. Hopfully he will get to go back to school tomorrow.

I don't wanna talk about it.

If you want to hear my rants about the game Monday, check out my post on Woody's blog. It was riddled with OSU mistakes and had very few LSU mistakes. Man! I am getting SO tired of being an Ohio sports fan. The Buckeyes lose three titles (2 football, one basketball) in two years, Browns get booted out of the playoffs, Cinnci had a rough year, the Blue Jackets never make the playoffs, the Indians screw up the in the playoffs, heck, even the Columbus Destroyers were close to a title this last year. We Ohio fans should start holding up two fingers when the TV camera is on us at a sporting event. "We're number two!" Sorry, I said I wasn't going to rant. At least we beat our Div 1-AA opponent.

My day yesterday was pretty shitty. First, I get a call from Gabriel's principal saying that he is getting in trouble on the bus and at recess. I don't get it. He is so sweet when he is at home (most of the time). Anyway, is got kicked off the bus one day and we have to go in for a conference tomorrow with the teacher and principal.

While talking to Gabriel after school, I hear a frantic knock on the door. I grew concerned because I knew Noah was outside riding his bike. Well, he flipped over the handle bars after trying to jump his bike and broke his arm. So, my ass was in the hospital for five hours. I don't really care b/c it was something that us parents need to do for our kids. It was just a big huge drag. Luckily, Jessica's dad came to get the little kids. This break was almost as bad as mine a few years back. Only he broke both of his bones in the forearm and I broke my humerous (upper arm). They were able to set it without operating, but he still may need to get it reset if the bones aren't healing together correctly. It It is amazing how extreme situations can bring out different sides of a person. Noah was very polite and kept telling everyone 'thank you' for helping him. It was probably the drugs. Normally, he is a moody teenager who speaks monosyllabicly like Rinnert. Not moody like Rinnert, talks like Rinnert. Rinnert isn't too moody these days that I know of.

General Posts

1. The Halo 3 online servers have been a little slow lately and I have been a little frustrated with the lack of my friends playing H3 lately, so I put Halo 3 aside for a while this weekend. Try not to gasp too hard so that you don't choke on your gum. Anyway, I revisited Bioshock. I had posted about it a long time ago, but I hadn't played it too much at that time. Basically, it is a first person shooter with some different angles. You still get your main weapons, which increase in power as you go along (wrench, then postol, machine gun, shot gun, etc.), but you also have the opportunity to use 'plasmids'. Plasmids are genetic upgrades that give you special powers. It is kind of like mixing a game like Fable (where you gain experience and pick up new powers and abilities) and a classic FPS. I am REALLY liking it. I loved Fable and I love shooters. You have to go through and complete quests while killing and explloring. LOTS of fun.

2. I did put Halo 3 back in after a while because I downloaded some new maps. I wish I had saved my Xbox Live credits. The maps are huge and confusing and only used in team games. I usually play solo and am not too good in the team matches. I guess I like capture the flag, but there are some games I don't like too much. Plus, since I am a solo guy joining in the big game, none of the teams I join really communicate. You need communication for for these big games. I will give the maps a few more tries, but will revert back to the traditional maps after some time.

3. Was that Betsy Reutz postin' on my blog? Hi Betsy! Good to hear from you! I always feel bad when I am reminded that I live no more that 30 minutes away from my highschool and college friends. I am such a jerk for never calling or visiting. There's Betsy, Heather, Rinnert used to be here, and I have LOTS of Ohio State buddies in the area. I guess that's the way of life. I think I am DEFINATELY going to have a cookout this spring/summer. I have a nice area for it with the deck. I am thinking probably spring since my deck gets really hot in the summer. Food, drink, good people, and good times.

4. Oh yeah. Big game tonight. I have probably beat the Ohio State vs. Louisiana State National Title Game to death, so I will just say: GO BUCKS!!! Hopfully they confuse the LSU purple and gold with M*ch*g*n's maize and blue. I predict a close game that will come down to the wire. Either team could win, but hopfully OSU will avenge last years embarassment.

It's been a while. Sorry

Sorry that it has been a while since my last post. I have had little time and little content. Not too much has happened these pase several days. Or, maybe I am just lazy and haven't wanted to take the time to post. You decide.

1. Happy New Year! We didn't do anything special. I view New Year's Eve and Day as a reason to buy a new calandar. I always get a Dilbert daily calandar. Dilbert makes me laugh. Jessica was in bed around 10:00 New Year's Eve and I played Xbox until I went to bed around midnight. We are really exciting, eh?

2. My poker roll is still trucking. I can't explain it, really. I guess I have just been getting new cards. I am definately having fun with it, but I worry that my poker friends might be getting a little tired of my winning. Since the beginning of November, I am at least up $1000. I wish I were closer to a casino so that I could take this hot streak somwhere that I could win some real money.

3. I need a vacation. Work was a little hellish last week. Two of my co-workers were out (one on vacation, the other on maternity leave) so I was basically holding a lot of things together. There are a few other people that do my job, but they do not have my experience. So, every messed up issue and question were routed to me. No fun. I feel really burned out right now. I am trying to be stingy with my vacation time though. I would rather try to save it for later in the year. It's hard to do though with this nice, annual infusion of vacation time.

4. Is anyone going to watch that Terminator TV show? I think they are calling it the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Don't know why since John Connor ends up being the savior of mankind. I will probably give a few episodes a try. Might as well, considering all of my regular shows are down with the strike. I liked the Terminator movies and am glad that Arnold isn't in the Terminator roll. Plus, it has Summer from Firefly. It should be good, I think.

5. So far so good with the diet. I haven't weighed myself yet, but I have made the transition from my bad eating and drinking habits to eating better and not drinking. I have basically cut almost all of the carbs out of my diet. I eat eggs every morning and meat and veggies the rest of the day. For an afternoon snack, I have a few nuts. Add nothing to drink but water, and I should be losing weight here pretty soon. I need to get on the tread mill and to the gym more to make the process go faster.